500LatAm

Fondo de Inversión para empresas de tecnología en etapa temprana 📲💰 pre-semilla en toda Latinoamérica 🚀

[Damaris Mendoza Loera @damarismendozal]

¿Adivinen quién se suma a la gira de Release Before Ready? 🙋‍♀️

Muy emocionada de hostear dos RBR en LatAm este Agosto 🌎

¡Vengan a vibecodear conmigo!

📍Santiago de Chile — 15 de agosto
📍Buenos Aires — 22 de agosto

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

In 18 months I'll know if Claude Code is a better VC than I am.

Real bet. Real results.

Gave it the same deals we evaluated in @500LatAm the last 6 months(we did 9 investments in that time).

It built a fantasy portfolio.

We agreed on 3 of 9.

DM your email — I'll send the results in 18 months.

[Damaris Mendoza Loera @damarismendozal]

RBR SF -
we had fun
@500LatAm

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

Spent Day 9 of SVT with @pitdesi (Better Tomorrow Ventures, $300M+ AUM).

His founder filter: are you moving fast, do customers love you. That's it.

His bet: vertical AI eating legacy industries. Basis just hit unicorn selling AI into accounting firms.

No moats. Only speed and customer love.

[Damaris Mendoza Loera @damarismendozal]

Gente que nunca ha programado.
80% mujeres presentando los proyectos en los que trabajaron durante el día.
Encuentros con gente que llevas años hablando y nunca habías conocido en persona
Mucho café, pizzas, burritos y MUCHÍSIMOS tokens después.
Un éxito total y rotundo RBR SF 🌉

[500LatAm @500LatAm]

Demos 👏👏👏
Demos 👏👏👏
Demos 👏👏👏

[500LatAm @500LatAm]

RBR made it to SF! 🙌🏽

🕺🏻🪩

[Damaris Mendoza Loera @damarismendozal]

Silicon Valley Takeover Week 2 is coming to a ✨ flawless ✨ end

Ready for RBR + week 3?
🥵

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

"I can't plan more than 3 months ahead."

Replit's CTO. Not a limitation — a strategy. The tech moves too fast for long roadmaps.

$ 2.8M → $ 150M. 60% of PRs touched by Replit itself.

Same day: Bismarck Lepe on agents + giants. Demis Hassabis on thousand-year horizons.

Day 8 of SVT.

[Damaris Mendoza Loera @damarismendozal]

OGs 🫶
@dfect & @christine_tsai
@500LatAm @500GlobalVC

[Fernanda Arozqueta @FArozqueta]

One of the most underrated things about SF founder culture: someone accomplished will look you in the eye and say "let's build something together, I respect you as a peer."
After everything I've experienced with @500LatAm in SF, this has been my favorite lesson.

[Fernanda Arozqueta @FArozqueta]

Just heard a serial founder drop this at a fireside chat hosted by @500LatAm : "if you enjoy being in a room where everyone has their head buried in their laptop building something, that's where you belong."

Amen. That's called a Saturday plan !

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

Snuck into @sama 's Lift Off event last night.

18M people have already scanned their identity at an Orb. Friday: partnerships with Okta, Zoom, Tinder.

Plus agents buying on Shopify with your verified identity.

Identity is the next platform.

SVT Day 5.

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

"SF is a city of abundance, not a city of scarcity."

One of the hardest mental rewires every founder makes when they get here.

@enzocavalie today at SVT: the scarce thing in SF isn't money or talent. It's good ideas... and people who actually execute on them.

Day 4 done. Full convo drops soon.

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

"Startups don't die when they run out of money. They die when founders run out of optimism."

Ali Moiz. 3 startups. 40 pivots. Two exits ($30M, $170M). Now building #3.

Day 3 of SVT. Full interview in the next post.

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

A quick 30 minutes reflection on the week!

It was a fun one!

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

🗓️ Tech events in the San Francisco/Bay Area this week April 20 - 26

This week is Climate Week in SF, a lot of interesting events!

And Release Before Ready on Saturday! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

💾 Bookmark this thread🧵!

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

Day 1 of 500 Silicon Valley Takeover.

@khailee opened with the stat that should reframe every international founder's ambition:

SF raises $2–3B per week in early-stage deals alone. Most countries don't see that in a year.

@albertlee (MyFitnessPal, $475M exit) closed it:

"Moving motivation is very, very difficult. Almost all of our time was spent reducing friction."

"If users succeed, we succeed. That's all that matters."

20 more days to go.

[Santiago Zavala @dfect]

Spent 4 days at one of the biggest AI conferences in SF.

After 3 days of incredible content from the sharpest minds building in AI, one thing keeps coming back to me:

Data is a moat. sure.

But the real moat is a founder who cares, moves fast, and just finds a way: that never goes out of style 🔥

[Damaris Mendoza Loera @damarismendozal]

Y si no, pero vas a estar en Mayo en CDMX ó MTY - también ahí nos vemos 🤠
https://t.co/lm0bWhXysX